1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to double barrel firearms, and in particular to filler strips for filling the space between the barrels.
2. Prior Art
Double barrel firearms to which the present invention relates include both shotguns and rifles having two substantially parallel barrels disposed either vertically (over-and-under) or horizontally (side-by-side) with respect to each other. The two parallel barrels of this type of firearm are spaced a predetermined distance apart and are carefully positioned in order to make sure that the bores of the barrels are aligned with respect to each other exactly as intended by the gunmaker. (That is to say, the axes of the bores may be exactly parallel or they may converge slightly so as to meet at a common point a predetermined distance from the muzzle of the barrels). The two barrels are permanently fixed in this position by a front spacer secured to the facing surfaces of the barrels at the forward ends thereof and by a rear spacer secured to the facing surfaces of the barrels toward the rearward ends thereof. The front and rear spacers are secured to the barrels advantageously by silver soldering or brazing these parts together, although they may also be secured together by soft solder or some other means. When thus secured together the two barrels are separated by a roughly hourglass-shaped space that extends from the forward end of the rear spacer to the rearward end of the front spacer. That is to say, the spaced parallel barrels define a longitudinally extending space having generally triangular cross sections on opposite sides of the barrels.
Although in some double barrel firearms the space between the barrels is allowed to remain open, it is more usually the practice to fill in or enclose the space between the barrels by means of a pair of filler strips which extend along opposite sides of the barrels from the rear spacer to the front spacer. The filler strips are usually secured to the barrels by a soft lead-base solder or, less commonly, by a hard silver solder. In all cases, when soldering the filler strips to the barrels it is very important that a moisture tight joint be obtained between the filler strips and the barrels in order to prevent moisture from entering the space between the barrels enclosed by the filler strips where it eventually will cause rust to form in an area inaccessible for cleaning.
After extended use in the field, it may be necessary to resolder the filler strips to the barrels, or the barrel assembly may need rebluing. However, soft solder will not withstand modern bluing solutions and if subjected to these solutions it will disintegrate, thereby causing the filler strips to separate from the barrels. If the barrel filler strips are silver soldered to the barrels the resulting assembly can be blued and reblued with modern bluing solutions. However, the use of silver solder requires excessive local heating of the barrels which causes warping and distortion of the parallel alignment of the barrels. As it is extremely difficult to straighten and align the barrels after the barrels are soldered together, the use of silver solder is not widely practiced. Moreover, modern bluing solutions and bluing salts are extremely corrosive to steel. It is imperative therefore that the joint between the filler strips and the barrels be moisture tight in order to prevent entrapment of bluing salts from the bluing solution in the space enclosed by the filler strips.
After an intensive investigation of the aforementioned problems associated with the securing of filler strips to the barrels of double barrel firearms, we have now devised a novel barrel and filler strip assembly by means of which the filler strips are removably secured to the barrels of the firearm. The removable filler strips of the invention fit neatly into the generally triangular spaces on opposite sides of the barrels when secured to the barrels, and they can readily be removed from the barrels to expose the space between the barrels for routine cleaning, or for rebluing if necessary.